Tony Lowry started game keeping some 30 years ago by helping out on a local farmers' shoot. By the time the next season came around, he was hatching, rearing and releasing pheasants by numbers. In other words, making it up as he went along, reading lots of books and learning from his mistakes.

Tony says: "This year I have taken up a new job after many happy and successful years on my previous shoot. I am now located just west of Newbury, in one of the most beautiful parts of Hampshire with topography that is ideal to produce some good sporting birds.

"I have had a long association with Howard Kirby at Lains shooting school as a shotgun coach. I teach there on a regular basis and this I find most rewarding, passing on the knowledge of safe gun handling to novice guns in particular, as I have been on the receiving end of some very poor gun handling in the past as a beater/picker up!

"Game keeping is a way of life and a passion to most of the people who are involved within the sport; it doesn’t matter whether you are full time or part time or just doing it for yourself with just a few birds, it’s a way of life that is 24/7 most of the time. Being a gamekeeper is sometimes quite a solitary profession, but it would be very difficult to do without the help and support of my family and friends. It takes a very understanding wife/partner to put up with the hours we keep sometimes, and holidays that fit in around the keeping calendar!"